Picture stretcher

ABSTRACT

A PICTURE STRETCHER OF RELATIVELY THIN MATERIAL, SUCH AS PAPERBOARD, FOR MOUNTING AND STRETCHING A CANVAS PICTURE WHICH IS INTEGRALLY FORMED WITH A CENTRAL AREA SUBSTANTIALLY THE SIZE OF THE COMPLETED PICTURE AND OUTWARDLY EXTENDING PORTIONS HAVING THE EDGES OF THE PICTURE SECURED THERETO IN FLAT CONDITION AND BENDABLE ABOUT SCORE LINES TO   FORM FLANGES WHICH CAN BE HELD IN BENT POSITION BY A FRAME WHEREBY THE PICTURE IS STRETCHED AND HELD IN THE STRETCHED POSITION.

United States Patent Office 3,559,316 PICTURE STRETCHER Samuel Galper, 224-42 Kingsbury Ave., Flushing, N.Y. 11364 Filed Allg. 6, 1969, Ser. No. 847,902 Int. Cl. D06c 3/08 U.S. Cl. B18-102.91 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A picture stretcher of relatively thin material, such as paperboard, for mounting and stretching a canvas picture which is integrally formed with a central area substantially the size of the completed picture and outwardly extending portions having the edges of the picture secured thereto in at condition and bendable about score lines to form flanges which can be held in bent position by a frame whereby the picture is stretched and held in the stretched position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to a picture stretcher suitable for quickly and inexpensively mounting a canvas picture and causing the picture to be stretched 'when mounted in a frame. It has been known in the art since the earliest of time that the canvas on which pictures are painted or imprinted must 'be stretched and held in a stretched condition in order to prevent wrinkling of the canvas over the long life of the picture. Common practice is to fabricate a rectangular wooden frame from four strips of wood and physically secure the edges of the canvas to the sides of the frame in a stretched condition. [For original works of art painted directly on the canvas, the canvas is mounted in stretched condition on the wooden frame and the picture is painted on the lstretched canvas.

In recent years, techniques have been developed for the mass production of pictures on canvas utilizing a printing technique whereby the pictures are printed on or applied to the ycanvas when the canvas is in a at, unmounted state. Before the pictures are mounted in an ornamental frame, they must be mounted on a stretcher in order that the canvas be properly preserved for long life. Common practice has been to fabricate a wooden stretcher frame of the standard type and secure the finished picture thereto, with the canvas in stretched condition.

While such technique has been satisfactory, the fabrication of individual wooden stretcher frames is expensive and unduly adds to the cost of the completed picture, especially in view of the fact that the mass-produced pictures are relatively inexpensive as compared with originally created Works of art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Generally speaking, in accordance with the invention, a relatively inexpensive piece of paperboard is die cut to size and provided with score lines delineating the size of the finished picture, with portions extending outwardly on all four sides beyond the score lines. A picture preprinted on canvas has the edges thereof secured to the outwardly extending portions and such outwardly extending portions are bent at right angles to the central area to stretch the canvas picture. The stretched picture is mounted in an ornamental frame having an internal opening which closely embraces the iiangelike outwardly extending portions to thereby hold them in their bent positions and maintain the picture in stretched condition.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a picture stretcher of improved construction.

Another object of this invention is to provide an irnproved picture stretcher which may be inexpensively fab- 3,559,316 Patented Feb. 2, 1971 ricated and which can be used to mount and stretch a picture preprinted on canvas.

A further object of the invention is to provide an irnproved one-piece picture stretcher fabricated of paperboard or like material.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an improved picture stretcher capable of having a canvas picture mounted thereon and secured thereto in flat condition and capable of being manipulated so as to effect a stretching of the canvas picture.

Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.

The invention accordingly comprises an article of manufacture possessing the features, properties, and the relation of elements which will be exemplified in the article hereinafter described, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 'For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference is had to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective View of a picture printed on canvas and a picture stretcher constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the instant invention;

FIG. 2 is aperspective view of the elements of FIG. 1 in assembled condition;

FIG. 3 is a partial sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an exploded, perspective view of a picture and stretcher assembly about to be mounted in an ornamental picture frame; and

FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view of a picture and stretcher mounted in an ornamental picture frame.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIG. l, a picture 11 consists of a rectangular sheet of canvas, one side of which has a work of art applied thereto using any desired technique. While the stretcher of the instant invention is most likely to be used for printed, mass-produced works of art on canvas, it is not so limited, and if desired, the canvas could be blank and have the picture applied thereto after it is in stretched condition, utilizing the stretcher of the instant invention. The stretcher is indicated generally at 12. The stretcher is preferably formed of paperboard, cardboard, riberboard or like material which, while being inexpensive, is relatively stii but can be folded without fracturing. The stretcher has a central area 13 which is rectangular and which is the size of the nished picture. The sides of the central area are defined by four score lines 14, and extending outwardly from each score line is a tab 15 having a length substantially as great as the length of the score line which forms the side of the tab. The intersecting corners 16 of adjacent tabs are cut out so that the tabs may be folded as will be hereafter described. The over-all dimension of the stretcher between the outer edges of the tabs are substantially the same as the over-al1 dimension of canvas 11. At spaced locations in the face of each tab 15 are several depressions 17 to aid in securing the canvas to the stretcher. The center of central area 13 may be removed as shown in FIG. 1 to reduce the Weight of the stretcher and permit use of the removed section as a stretcher for a smaller piece of canvas, thereby reducing waste.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, canvas 11 is mounted directly on stretcher 12 with the stretcher in its normal, at condition. The outer edges of the canvas beyond the normal picture area are rigidly secured to tabs as by means of staples 18. While adhesives or other suitable means can be used to secure the canvas to tabs 15, staples have been found most satisfactory. Since the paperboard of which the stretcher is formed is relatively stiff, depressions 17 have been provided for receiving therethrough staples 18, whereby the difficulty in passing a staple through the canvas and the stretcher is substantially alleviated.

With the canvas mounted on the stretcher as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the canvas is fiat and unstretched.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the picture is adapted for mounting in an ornamental frame 21 of usual construction, with the frame having an L-shaped recess along its interior opening through the rear of the frame for receiving the picture. The size of the opening through the rear of ornamental frame 21 is substantially the size of central area 13 measured across score lines 14. To mount the stretcher in the ornamental frame and concurrently stretch the canvas, tabs 15 are bent rearwardly along score lines 14 so that the tabs form flanges and the picture on the stretcher takes the configuration shown in FIG. 4. The bending of each tab 15 rearwardly at an angle of substantially 90 causes the surface portion of the paperboard to separate along the score line to thereby increase the total developed dimension along the surface of the stretcher, whereby the stretching of the canvas is accomplished.

When the tabs have been bent rearwardly to the configuration shown in FIG. 4, the stretcher may be inserted into the ornamental frame 21, as shown in FIG. 5, and with the portion of the canvas overlying tabs 15 in engagement With the sides of L-shaped recess 22. The stretcher is held with the tabs in the bent condition to thereby maintain the stretching of the canvas. Note that it is important that the canvas be afiixed to the stretcher along the tabs only, so that the canvas overlying central area 13 is free to be stretched. Once the canvas and stretcher has been mounted in the ornamental frame, it may be held therein by any suitable means, such as Z- shaped clips 23, which are nailed or otherwise secured in the internal opening of the ornamental frame.

In utilizing the stretcher of the instant invention as shown in the drawings, it has been assumed that the work of art was preprinted or preapplied to canvas 11. However, if the stretcher is to be used for blank canvas, the canvas would be applied as disclosed, but after the tabs had been bent rearwardly, the stretcher and canvas would be mounted in a wooden form similar to ornamental frame 21 but in the reverse position, so that the entire central surface of the canvas would be exposed to have a work of art painted thereon. The framing would be used to hold the tabs bent rearwardly to maintain a stretch on the canvas.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained, and since certain changes 4 may be made in the above article without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. A picture stretcher comprising a unitary thin sheet of material having a stiffness greater than that of the material of the picture to be stretched and having a face side and a back side, a plurality of scores extending around said sheet into said face side to define a fiat central area and a plurality of intersecting tabs extending outwardly of said central area in substantially planar relationship with respect to said central area, and means defining cutouts at the intersection of each pair of intersecting tabs, whereby each of said tabs may be bent rearwardly out of the plane of said face side without obstruction from an intersecting tab.

2. A picture stretcher comprising a unitary thin sheet of material having a stiffness greater than that of the material of the picture to be stretched and having a face side and a back side, means defining a plurality of fold lines extending around said sheet to define a at central area and a plurality of intersecting tabs extending outwardly of said central area in substantially planar relationship with respect to said central area, and means defining cutouts at the intersection of each pair of intersecting tabs, whereby each of said tabs may be bent rearwardly about its respective fold line out of the plane of said face side without obstruction from an intersecting tab.

3. A picture stretcher as claimed in claim 2 wherein Said unitary thin sheet of relatively stiff material is paperboard.

4. A picture stretcher as claimed in claim 2 wherein said face side of said tabs includes means for having a sheet of material mounted thereto.

5. A picture stretcher as claimed in claim 4 wherein said last-named means comprises a plurality of depressions inthe face side of said tabs.

6. A picture stretcher as claimed in claim 2 wherein said means defining a plurality of fold lines includes cuts extending perpendicularly from said face side toward said back side and terminating short of said back side to define a thinned section of said back side, about which said tabs may bend in hinge-like fashion.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,456,225 12/1948 Thomas 38-102.9l 2,630,652 3/1953 Amado 38-10291 3,137,088 6/1964 Spertus 160-378 PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

